The bodyguard gimmick has been around in wrestling for decades with mixed results. Many wrestlers having an enforcer backing them up makes sense for their character and promotions have tried to find the magical pairing. Names like Diesel, Sid, and Big E thrived in the bodyguard position before breaking out on their own.
RELATED: 10 Best Wrestling Bodyguards Who Became Stars
However, there were plenty of wrestlers who missed the mark when trying to portray such a role. Various reasons led to failure from weak chemistry to poor talent to just the creative team hurting them. For one reason or another, a handful of "talent" will go down in history as the worst bodyguards in professional wrestling.
10 Ezekiel Jackson
WWE introduced Ezekiel Jackson in the bodyguard gimmick when representing The Brian Kendrick. Fans saw a new side of Kendrick with his heel persona having a heater with him in the form of Jackson interfering in his matches.
RELATED: 10 Times WWE Tried To Get The Same Gimmick Over Multiple Times
The run didn’t work out well for either man as Jackson failed to develop his own identity and Kendrick didn’t get much of a push. WWE ended up pushing Zeke on his own on the ECW brand and eventually in the Nexus spin-off of The Corre with similar lackluster results.
9 The Wall
Alex Wright received a complete repackaging in the later years of WCW as the character Berlyn. WCW wanted Wright to play a hated heel with the typical anti-American heel gimmick trying to get him heat. The Wall was introduced as his bodyguard playing into the Berlin theme.
Wright ended up failing badly with the gimmick as WCW reverted him back to the dancing character even though he drastically changed his look. WCW continued to try to push The Wall on his own, but it just didn’t work out following the shaky start.
8 Jackson Andrews
WWE placed the large Jackson Andrews in a role with Tyson Kidd when called up to the main roster. Andrews’ size allowed him to play the bodyguard of Kidd as WWE viewed Tyson as a great worker needing something extra to put him over the top.
Fans didn’t gravitate towards Andrews and his run ended relatively quickly. WWE sent Jackson back to developmental to improve, but he was never called up again. The one opportunity as a bodyguard for Kidd was a huge flop.
7 Matt Morgan
One of the forgotten bodyguard wrestlers in WWE saw Matt Morgan getting called up in the role backing up Carlito. WWE used Morgan’s strength and size to destroy Big Show on behalf of the loud-mouth heel Carlito on the SmackDown brand.
The random addition of a stuttering gimmick just led to confusion for the audience. WWE’s poor attempt at humor ensured he’d never get over with the already disappointing results. TNA introduced Morgan in an enforcer role as well for Jim Cornette with it once again going nowhere.
6 Bam Neely
WWE paired Chavo Guerrero with newcomer Bam Neely as his bodyguard. The duo worked together on both the ECW brand and the SmackDown brand. Chavo moving to SmackDown allowed him to reunite with Vickie Guerrero during her storyline dating Edge.
Neely was easily the weakest link in the La Familia faction. Chavo did get pushed harder on ECW as a world champion, but he wasn’t worthy of having his own bodyguard. Bam certainly didn’t make the most of his opportunity as he did nothing of note during or after the run.
5 Ralphus
Chris Jericho went the comedic route when having the best run of his WCW time. The promos calling out Goldberg led to Jericho having his own security guard. Ralphus was the hilarious choice of Jericho meant to get more laughs than credibility.
RELATED: 7 Best Side Characters In Wrestling History
The unfortunate element of the funny angle was that Jericho came off like a silly wrestler rather than a real challenger to Goldberg. Ralphus continued to work with Jericho after the storyline, but he was more of a hindrance at times.
4 Mr. Hughes
WWE tried to make Mr. Hughes a top bodyguard with multiple wrestlers throughout his career. Hughes had a lackluster run as a wrestler in the early ‘90s, so WWE wanted him in the bodyguard role when returning later in the decade.
Triple H added Hughes as his bodyguard when needing something new to break out. The run was a disappointment until Chyna replaced Hughes for greater success. Chris Jericho’s early time in WWE saw Hughes trying to add to his act as a bodyguard again with the quick hook leading to his release.
3 Tamina
The WWE career of Tamina has featured her struggling to find a role in the company. Tamina isn’t the most technical wrestler and her matches lacked compared to the other rising stars of the Women’s Evolution. WWE tried to make Tamina a bodyguard on a few occasions.
The best run came as the enforcer of AJ Lee, but Tamina barely did much to add to the act. Lee would have thrived with or without Tamina at her side. Other stints with Naomi and Lana would see Tamina failing to find a long-term partner as a bodyguard character.
2 Asya
WCW got really desperate when trying to rip off successful WWE ideas in the final few years. Chyna was among the most beloved performers in the industry after getting over as a bodyguard. The reaction from WCW was to come up with their own version of the character.
Asya was the name given to the character since Asia was bigger than Chyna. WCW placed Asya in the Revolution faction to lackluster results. Fans showed no interest in Asya for WCW despite the inspiration coming from the success of Chyna in WWE. It proved that copying other companies with lazy direction would not work in the Monday Night Wars.
1 Brodus Clay
The NXT run of Brodus Clay during the game show years saw him working under the leadership of his pro, Alberto Del Rio. WWE kept them together following the show with Clay becoming the bodyguard for Del Rio during his first main event heel run.
However, the mistakes of Clay played a role in Edge suffering an injury during his matches with Alberto. WWE realized Brodus was too inexperienced and tried to repackage him with more time in developmental. Del Rio lost a lot of his momentum with Clay’s weakness as a bodyguard adding to the negativity.
